The baling of agricultural crop material has traditionally been done with rectangular balers that formed compressed bales of crop material, such as forage crop material, that could be handled manually. As farming operations became more mechanized, the sizes of the bales of crop material increased with some balers forming large rectangular bales and other balers forming cylindrically shaped bales, commonly referred to as round bales. The rectangular balers, whether the balers formed a small bale that can be manually handled, or a large bale that requires machinery to handle the bales, had an advantage of being able to continuously gather the crop material from the fields for compressing into the bales.
The rectangular balers collected loose crop material from the field and fed the collected crop material into a baling chamber for compression against the previously formed bales and against the compression structure of the baler. Once the rectangular bale of crop material was formed, the formed bale remained in the bale case to serve as a back stop for the next bale being formed until the formed rectangular bale reached the end of the bale case where the formed bale was dropped back onto the field, although in some configurations of large rectangular balers the formed bale was collected by a trailing apparatus connected to the baler.
Conventional round balers also collect crop material from the field and using an apparatus that can be continuous belts, either a single wide belt or multiple smaller belts, a chain mechanism, or rollers, to form an expandable webbed bale chamber for the formation of a cylindrical bale of crop material within the machine where the serpentine formation of the belt or chain mechanism allow the bale chamber to expand as the bale grows through the addition of crop material into the machine. Other configurations of round balers define a fixed diameter bale chamber, typically utilizing a plurality of rolls mounted circumferentially to define the fixed chamber, and cause the crop material fed therein to roll into a compressed cylindrical bale.
However, all of these conventional round balers eventually had to cease temporarily the operation of collecting crop material so that the fully formed bale could be ejected from the machine. Ejection of the bale typically required the machine to stop forward progress, open a tailgate structure and then force the formed cylindrical bale out of the machine onto the surface of the field to be retrieved later, followed by the closing of the tailgate structure to be able to start the process of making a new round bale. Thus, the conventional round balers did not have the advantage of the rectangular balers in being able to continuously move over the surface of the field to collect crop material therefrom.
Wrapping the formed bales is also a distinction between rectangular and cylindrical bales of crop material. Rectangular bales typically utilize heavy needle mechanisms and associated knotters to position twine or wire around the longitudinal periphery of the formed bale, which becomes tied into a knot or twisted wire to secure the wrapping around the bale. Round balers are typically wrapped in netting material, or with plastic sheeting, to secure the cylindrical periphery of the formed bales. Conventional round balers are provided with net wrapping devices that feed a supply of netting material retained on a roll of the netting material within the device into the bale chamber to be fed around the circumference of the cylindrical bale. Typically, the netting material is wrapped multiple times so that the netting material is retained on the bale after being discharged from the round baler.
Such conventional round balers all have several common problems:
1. There is an operational time loss to wrap and eject the bale from the baler.
2. Expensive and complicated mechanisms are required to form and then quickly eject the formed bale. Some round baler manufacturers have spent considerable effort to obtain a 3-5 second reduction in time for ejecting the bale from the round baler.
3. For balers that utilize belts, belt tracking and durability are problems, particularly for the more complicated continuous round balers. With multiple belts, and especially with long multiple belts, problems are encountered with manufacturing consistency and with utilization of the belts in different crop conditions. Belts that travel over rollers have an inherent problem of crop wrapping around the rollers and forcing the belts out of engagement with the rollers.
4. Maintaining a uniform cylindrical bale shape requires the operator to weave the round baler back and forth laterally over the crop windrow so that an even amount of hay will be maintained at both ends of the round bale.
5. Net wrapping systems are complicated and use heavy rolls of netting material that have to be lifted and loaded into an elevated receptacle on the baler.
6. Crop loss, particularly those very valuable leaves and other fines, leak from the baler during operation and are lost from the baling process and fall to the ground.
Accordingly, a major objective of most manufacturers of conventional round balers is to provide a round baler that is continuously operable to collect crop material from the surface of the field without requiring a stop to eject or discharge the formed bale from the round baler, thus capturing the advantage of operating a rectangular baler. Such a machine has been referred to as a continuous round baler. Conventional round balers have three major cycles, formation of the cylindrical bale, wrapping the formed bale, and ejecting the wrapped bale from the machine. Conventional thought is to add a fourth cycle to the process, the accumulation of the crop material being collected from the field while the machine is going through the wrapping and ejection cycles.
Most of the attempts to create a continuous round baler have centered on the provision of a two chamber round baler such that one chamber can be used to start a new round bale while the other chamber ejects the round bale from the machine. One such attempt was patented by Kenneth R. Underhill in U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,285, issuing on Aug. 13, 1985. The chain and slat serpentine mechanism interrupted the flow of hay into the rear bale chamber to start a new bale in a front chamber while the formed bale was being discharged. Once the main bale chamber was emptied, the partially completed bale would be transferred to the rear chamber and completed. This two chamber concept theoretically solved the first problem noted above to end the operational time loss, but worsened the second problem noted above, as this was a very big, heavy, complicated and expensive machine.
A similar approach was patented by Don Bowden in U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,254, issuing on Jul. 1, 1986, and used a disk to rotate an indexing roller from behind the formed bale to a position in front of the formed bale, temporarily creating a new bale forming chamber while the formed bale was being ejected from the machine. This Bowden machine encountered problems of the newly formed bale in the front chamber growing too fast while the formed bale was being ejected, which was particularly true in heavy crop conditions.
Examples of this conventional thinking can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,707,865, granted on Apr. 29, 2014, to Scott Oakes in which a surge bin is supported on the frame of the round baler in front of the primary crop pick-up mechanism which collects and feeds crop material into the bale chamber. This surge bin includes a supplemental crop pick-up mechanism that collects crop material into the surge bin where the material accumulates while the baler discharges the previously formed bale. The surge bin then meters the accumulated crop material into the primary crop pick-up mechanism to be transferred into the bale for the bale formation cycle. Although the surge bin does not start the formation of a round bale, as noted for the Underhill and Bowden machines, the surge bin is still part of the two chamber concept allowing incoming hay to be collected in a front chamber while the bale is being ejected from the rear chamber.
A substantially more complex accumulation apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,733,241, granted to Martin Roberge on May 27, 2014, in which the round baler is provided with first and second bale chambers with associated first and second belt or chain serpentine mechanisms. The first bale chamber is operated to start the formation of a round bale while the second bale chamber wraps and discharges the completed round bale. Then the first chamber transfers the partially finished bale into the second chamber to complete the bale formation cycle. Once completed, the first chamber interrupts the flow of crop material to the second bale chamber to accumulate the crop material by starting a new round bale. This Roberge machine appears to be very heavy and very complex.
A different form of an accumulation chamber is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,291,687, issued on Oct. 23, 2012, and also in U.S. Pat. No. 8,413,414, issued on Apr. 9, 2013; in U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,509, issued on Jun. 18, 2013; and in U.S. Pat. No. 8,544,243, issued on Oct. 1, 2013, to Maynard Herron, et al. The Herron configuration provides an elongated accumulation chamber in which the conventional crop pick-up mechanism is located at a forward end of the accumulation chamber. The incoming hay is simply collected in the elongated accumulation chamber while the previously formed bale is wrapped and discharged from the baler. The problem with this design is that the accumulation chamber has to be very large, especially if accumulating loose crop and operating in heavy crop windrows. Also, the forward ground speed of the round baler has to be slowed enough to be able to feed the accumulated hay from the accumulation chamber along with the hay from a heavy windrow, so that this large amount of crop being inserted into the bale chamber does not plug the machine. Slowing the machine defeats the original reason for having the accumulation chamber which is to speed up the production.
European Patent No. 2556741, published on Feb. 13, 2013, reflects a continuous round baler concept developed by Krone. This Krone machine also incorporates the accumulation chamber concept and the accumulation of loose hay is a difficult thing to properly manipulate. This Krone machine is very large and very complex. The accumulation chamber is disposed at the front to collect loose hay while the bale is being ejected to a rear wrapping platform. Once the tail gate has closed, the accumulated hay it pushed into the bale chamber while the bale on the rear platform is wrapped in plastic and dropped onto the ground.
European Patent Publication No. 0268002, published on May 25, 1988; European Patent Publication No. 0268003, published May 25, 1988; and European Patent Publication No. 0270726, published on Jun. 15, 1988, disclose a concept developed by Deere & Company whereby a conical bale forming chamber formed from tapered rollers receives hay from the field via a conventional pick-up mechanism to create a spirally formed, cylindrically shaped bale. The frusto-conical bale forming chamber is oriented such that the lower angled side thereof is parallel to the ground to facilitate the feed of crop into the conical chamber. Crop moves from the conical bale forming chamber into a cylindrical fixed diameter chamber formed by rollers in alignment with the large ends of the tapered rollers in the conical bale forming chamber. The cylindrical portion extends upwardly at a 10 to 30 degree angle to the ground to provide an elevated end so that the discharge can be made directly onto a wagon or transporter. A density control mechanism is disclosed along with the discharge of the formed cylindrical bale radially from the cylindrical chamber.
In European Publication 0268003, a bale cut-off mechanism is disclosed as being located near the conical bale chamber, although the specification does not disclose how the cylindrical rollers are to be supported next to the opening for insertion of the cutting mechanism. In European Publication 0268002, a bale cut-off mechanism is disclosed at the downstream end of the cylindrical bale chamber, although the specification does not disclose how the formed round bale is to be supported before and while being cut.
All of these crop material accumulation devices accomplish the same goal, i.e. to allow the baler to continue to move forwardly and collect crop material while the non-bale formation cycles are completed and the bale chamber is ready to re-start the formation of a round bale. While technically the baler does not stop moving in a forward direction, these two chamber concepts are not a truly continuous bale formation process. Furthermore, each of these configurations suffer from the same disadvantages in that the tailgate of the baler must be opened, raising the center of gravity of the machine and adding stress on the structural components, while the baler is being moved along the surface of the field.
One skilled in the art will recognize that the surface of an agricultural field is not a smooth, level surface, but instead contains crop mounds, tilling and cultivating furrows and other undulations that cause the machines traveling thereon to bounce and shake significantly. Raising the tailgate of a round baler to discharge a completely formed round bale, which can weigh more than one thousand pounds, while the round baler is moving across the undulating surface of an agricultural field, magnifies the stress that has to be carried by the frame and other structural components of the round baler. Thus, not only is durability brought into question, but stability and safety are also significant factors.
Furthermore, the operation of a round baler utilizing an accumulation chamber to store collected crop material while the round baler performs the non-bale forming functions of the conventional round baler does not create a truly continuously operable round baler in the same sense as a rectangular baler is continuously operable. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a continuously operable round baler that is operable to form a cylindrical bale of crop material while being moved across a field. It would be further desirable to provide a net wrapping apparatus that is adaptable to the continuously operable round baler to provide a wrapping of netting material while the cylindrical bale of crop material is being formed.